Knotted up at the Break

Goaltender Jon Lipshutz kept the game tied and keeps the Bullets unbeaten in conference play

Coming out of their Thanksgiving break, the Bullets only had one more game before their long semester break. This game would be against Rutgers University. Rutgers had taken down the Bullets last season and had had some success in the early going of this season. If Gettysburg wanted to remain unbeaten in conference play they needed to be ready to play.

Early in the game it was evident that this was going to be a solid back-and-forth matchup. In fact, this game ended up being one of the cleanest hard-nosed hockey games the team had played all year. No cheap shots, no bad play, just solid hockey. Both goaltenders stood tall in the first as sophomore goaltender Jon Lipshutz kept Rutgers off the scoreboard, as did their netminder.

It wasn’t until midway through the second when a scrum in front of the Gettysburg net led to a rebound getting forced in to the back of the net giving Rutgers the 1-0 lead. However, minutes later, senior assistant captain Ryan Anderson, also banged home a rebound to tie the game at one. This game would remain knotted at one goal until the third period. Early in the period junior Garrett Flasinski carried the puck in to the Rutgers zone on the powerplay and ripped a wrist shot through a screen and in to the net for the slim one goal lead. However, minutes later Rutgers would once again tie the game at two. Late in the period sophomore Adam Jacobs broke through the Rutgers defense and found himself on a breakaway and beat the Rutgers goaltender to take the late lead. One thing that has happened all too much lately, was Gettysburg surrendering late leads and this game ended up being the same way as with just under five minutes remaining Rutgers tied the game at three.

Despite Gettysburg’s efforts and a couple late close chances, including a post in overtime, the game would end as a tie, per the GNCHC conference rules. Lipshutz did really well in this back-and-forth game as he stopped 30 shots on the night. Gettysburg now has a month off for their semester break before they head back to conference action with another marathon weekend of three games in three days at the end of January.